Kane raises doubts he'll be ready for Hawks camp

Kane had surgery to repair a scaphoid fracture in his left wrist July 19, with a stated recovery time of six to eight weeks. General manager Stan Bowman said recently Kane was on track to be ready for the start of training camp in mid-September, but the winger seemed to indicate otherwise Tuesday when he told a Toronto radio station that he's targeting the team's regular-season opener Oct. 7 against the Dallas Stars for a return.

"I went to get it checked out (Monday) and everything seems to be checking in right now," Kane told The Fan 590 in Toronto. "(It was) good news (Monday): I should be ready for the start of the season."

Kane told The Fan 590 that he's not yet ready to take the ice and skate to prepare like he usually does during the offseason.

"I still have a little cast on so it’s probably a little bit longer," said Kane, who had 27 goals and 46 assists in 73 games last season. "I’m not really going to rush anything, we still have a lot of time. My goal is to be ready for the opening regular-season game. Obviously, you’d like to be back in training camp but more importantly the date is Oct. 7 for our first regular season game. That’s kind of the date I’m working for. There’s really no rush because things are going pretty well right now.

"With the wrist injury all I’ve really been able to do is kind of skate by myself," Kane continued. "Not really with full equipment on, just kind of been skating with one hand out there. You still have to skate. That’s kind of part of our job in the summer is to get ourselves ready anyway we can. That’s what I’m doing right now. Usually at this time of year I’d probably be skating with some of the (Buffalo) Sabres, whether it’s just playing shinny or regular four-on-four games, which are always pretty fun to kind of help you get ready for the season. That’s what I'd usually be doing but this summer has been a little bit different."